Need for Humanitarian Architecture
Today, more than ever, there is a significant demand for architects to rebuild sites stricken by conflict, disaster, political instability, and poverty. Despite several people fleeing their homes, the number of architects and designers equipped to service these crises remains astonishingly low. (Charlesworth and Marshall, 2014) Brett Moore points out how the need for humanitarian architecture is critical in the foreword of the book Design for Fragility (Charlesworth and Fien, 2022), “What is clear is that what was once the role of humanitarians, like me, is now more mainstream, and governments, private sector, and civil society are all seeing how precarious our cities, economies, and systems are to disruption.”
What are Humanitarian Principles?
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] (OCHA on Message: Humanitarian Principles, July 2022 [EN/AR] – World | ReliefWeb, 2022; Humanitarian principles, 2024), humanitarian principles are centred around humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The principal driver of humanitarian action is to save lives and reduce suffering while maintaining and reviving the personal dignity of the affected. Humanitarian action covers various activities, from prevention to disaster response to recovery and reconstruction. Some key sectors are food security, education, health, nutrition, shelter, and protection. ‘Humanitarian architecture’ then is the field of providing refuge to those who are vulnerable and in need. While emergency fields of medicine, law and engineering are at the forefront of rebuilding devastated communities post-disaster, the need for the ‘value of design’ in rebuilding has been noted as missing. Architects and designers can be crucial in various humanitarian activities such as prevention and mitigation, emergency response, and temporary rehabilitation through design, especially post-disaster reconstruction.
Need for Humanitarian Architecture
While all architecture ideally must be humanitarian, we have come to draw lines between catering to privileged clients who want well-designed spaces and the vulnerable who need immediate shelter. In an interview, Shigeru Ban (Architect Shigeru Ban: I Am Disappointed in Architects | Louisiana Channel, 2024) said he was “disappointed in architects” because we, as a profession, have pushed out the most basic fundament of architecture – providing shelter to those in need. There is also a debate about whether architects are needed in post-disaster settings. Academics like David Sanderson (Sanderson 2010) think architects are the last people required in disaster reconstruction. With their current educational background, architects are not well-equipped for disaster response, and unlike practitioners focused on people, architects have a more design-ownership-based approach.
Architects ill-equipped to deal with crises do more harm than good on-site. Without experience, architects cannot fully utilise their design capabilities. As Shigeru Ban suggests, sending a doctor to a place to treat the injured is simple because of universal medical solutions, but architecture has no such solutions. Instead, every emergency site needs local people working with architects who understand the local context and the available materials. Currently, architects do not lead most reconstruction projects; instead, they are just part of rushed team projects with minimal scope for intervention (Charlesworth, 2014). Several examples of non-functional shelters highlight the need for humanitarian architecture and architects and designers to be involved in decision-making.
Aim of Humanitarian Architecture
More than physical structures, architects involved in humanitarian architecture address the social and psychological factors surrounding shelter. This type of architecture is most needed when the local capacity to respond to a disaster or conflict has collapsed, and external assistance is required. While the field is vast, emergency shelter is a priority in humanitarian architecture. Some of the notable projects do not just provide aesthetic or functional solutions but go deeper to bridge communities and help in long-term rehabilitation. In the programme description for WiT at AAlto, Saija Hollmén (Hollmén, 2023) notes how humanitarian architecture operates in three modes – emergency relief, where survival from the elements is itself critical; mid-term relief, where standard solutions offer immediate but non-ideal housing needs and reconstruction, where a permanent habitat is developed and set in place. More often than not, some temporary solutions become permanent, and solutions that were not fully developed are used for more extended periods than intended.
Valuable Examples of Humanitarian Architecture
When parsing through examples of humanitarian architecture, it is essential to look not only at the final product but also consider the processes informed by the actors, the limitations, the context, and the project’s overall goal. Looking at the projects through these lenses would ensure a strict understanding of the conditions and cultural drivers of why the project took shape in a certain way.
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Bholu 16 – The Anganwadi Project
Bholu 16 is an early childhood education centre in India that offers a protected and caring atmosphere for needy children. The project is sustainable and integrates the community in its design, using local materials and passive cooling to create a comfortable and economical learning environment. It references how architecture can help education and childhood development in unprivileged areas.
2. Anandaloy project – Anna Herringer
Designed by architect Anna Heringer, Anandaloy in Bangladesh is a therapy centre for the disabled and a textile workshop for women. The building was constructed using mud and bamboo, a traditional, inclusive, and environmentally friendly method. It offers much-required social infrastructure while promoting natural and easily accessible materials.
3. The Green Shelter project – Yasmeen Lari
Top humanitarian and sustainable architect Yasmeen Lari has designed The Green Shelter Project, an eco-friendly temporary housing for people displaced by disasters in Pakistan. The project uses bamboo and lime as local materials to make the structure sustainable and self-reliant. The structures are earthquake-resistant, affordable, and flexible to ensure displaced populations have permanent shelter.
4. SOS Children’s Village, Djibouti – Urko Sanchez Architects
Urko Sanchez Architects designed the SOS Children’s Village in Djibouti to house orphaned and vulnerable children. The village comprises traditional courtyard houses, local materials, and natural ventilation to create a comfortable and environmentally friendly home. The project creates a sense of community by offering schools, health facilities, and play areas.
Humanitarian architecture is not just about shelters; it is about designing for communities that require external support to be rebuilt during and after critical stages. To this end, humanitarian architects can make a substantial impact by emphasising resilience, community empowerment, and long-term designs that architects can replicate in context-sensitive ways. The projects highlighted are but a glimpse into the world of humanitarian architecture, and many unsung heroes are not documented in books and the internet. To move towards a more sustainable future, we must design for those crucially in need of shelter, and that means shifting our focus from pedigree architecture to architecture for humanitarian needs.
References:
Architect Shigeru Ban: I Am Disappointed in Architects | Louisiana Channel (2024). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjIQcXbaw80 (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
Charlesworth, E. (2014) ‘The rise of humanitarian architecture’, arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, 18(3), pp. 267–271. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S135913551400061X.
Charlesworth, E. and Marshall, A.G. (2014) Humanitarian architecture: 15 stories of architects working after disaster [Elektronisk resurs]. Routledge.
Charlesworth, Esther. and Fien, J. (2022) Design for Fragility : 13 Stories of Humanitarian Architects [Elektronisk resurs]. Milton: Taylor & Francis Group.
Hollmén, S. (2023) Humanitarian architecture – what does it mean? | Aalto University. Available at: https://www.aalto.fi/en/wit-programme/humanitarian-architecture-what-does-it-mean (Accessed: 28 January 2025).
Humanitarian principles (2024) UNHCR. Available at: https://emergency.unhcr.org/protection/protection-principles/humanitarian-principles (Accessed: 28 January 2025).
OCHA on Message: Humanitarian Principles, July 2022 [EN/AR] – World | ReliefWeb (2022). Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/ocha-message-humanitarian-principles-enar (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
Sanderson, D. (2010) ‘Architects are often the last people needed in disaster reconstruction’, The Guardian, 3 March. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/03/architects-disaster-reconstruction-haiti-chile (Accessed: 28 January 2025).
